A Yellow Rose
by Mun Pai
Summary: AU. LeeSaku. Sakura has been single for a few years and is always trying to convince herself that she is satisfied with her lifestyle...But as Valentine's Day approaches, she realizes that she is not happy at all, until a young man shows up and offers her


She had been hesitant to accept the invitation at first but he had asked her so sweetly and was always so polite that it was hard for her to say no. It had been a long time since she had been on anything that remotely resembled a date. Since her last relationship, she had chosen to remain single. Two and a half years had passed. Her best friend told her she needed to start looking again.

As always, she said she would do her best.

She was not looking; she went about her life as she had been.

But then _he _showed up, seemingly by accident one day, at the bookstore where she had a part-time job…

Her nametag read "Haruno Sakura" in pink kanji characters. By that time, a cold day in February, she had been working in the bookstore for three months. Her junior year of college was about to end. She was going to graduate with a degree pre-medical studies and go on to become a doctor. It was a hard program and she enjoyed every moment of it. Her studies kept her distracted from the fact that she was single.

Yamanaka Ino, her best friend, had a boyfriend. Another girl she knew, Hyuuga Hinata, the shyest girl in school, had a boyfriend. There she was, Sakura, all by herself. Alone, a "spinster" as Ino called her, teasingly, sometimes.

Sakura always said she did not mind. In fact, she always told herself that she was much happier without a man around, annoying her. She went to school every week day, got wonderful grades, went to work, and went back to the apartment she and Ino shared (though Ino was almost always out with Chouji). Late night movies about sappy romance or medical dramas were her nightly entertainment. Sometimes, her childhood friend, Naruto, would call, but he was studying abroad so that rarely happened. Naruto had always been around to help her. When her last boyfriend broke up with her, he had consoled her, told her she was beautiful and that she would find someone who really cared about her.

Sasuke had seemed so amazing the first time she met him, back in high school. As the most popular guy in school, he was every girl's crush at some point. He was quiet and tended to brood, preferring to be alone rather associate with other people, which only made him more mysterious.

And then one day, he found out Sakura liked him. Ino had told him, despite Sakura's requests that she did not do it. A few days later, Sasuke approached Sakura and immediately after that, the two of them began dating.

It did not work out.

Sasuke dumped her a month before they graduated high school. That, Sakura had tried to convince herself, was courteous of him. At least she did not have to worry about messing up too badly on the final exams—most of what would be on them had already been taught. The last month of high school went by in a blur of tears and reassurances.

She really never knew why Sasuke left her. He told her he was trying to forget about someone else. For the first few months after that, she thought she was still in love with him.

Now, so much time had past that she wondered what she even ever saw in him. She knew what he really was; a jerk. Just as Ino said; "A selfish asshole who can't see beyond his own, overly metro face in the mirror," although Sakura was not sure if that really made sense or not, it did not matter to her, those words had made her laugh.

Sakura thumbed through a volume of a fashion magazine, the year's February edition. All of the models were posing with handsome men. Of course; Valentine's Day was coming up. February was the worst month to be single. She heaved a sigh as the bell above the door rang, signaling customers had come inside. Without a second glance at the page, she shut the magazine and set it underneath the cash register.

It was a couple. She could tell right off the bat.

The young man was tall, graced with dashingly good looks (long, black hair up in a ponytail, perfectly shaped, almond eyes, and smooth skin), and had a voice like a movie star might. His girlfriend was equally beautiful; blonde hair, blue-green eyes, fair complexion, and a perfect figure. It was as if the two of them had walked right out of the fashion magazine she had just been looking at, hand in hand.

She smiled at them and asked if they needed any help. They asked her where they could find books with advice for soon-to-be-parents. It was then that she realized that the young woman looked about seven months pregnant. Without a single falter, Sakura directed them to the correct section and then left them to their business.

When she got back to the cash register, she felt tears well up in her eyes. She was not jealous, maybe a little bit, but…not really. It was not time for her to have a child; she was twenty-two and needed to concentrate on school, not romance or families. For a moment, she thought of Ino and Chouji; they were engaged…and Hinata and Kiba…their wedding was in three months.

Her heart sank. She really was a spinster.

The bell chimed again. Sakura was wiping her eyes as the new customer came in. By the time she was finished, he was standing in front of the desk, holding a yellow (friendship, she immediately knew) rose out to her. Slightly confused and very surprised, Sakura looked up to see a vaguely familiar man standing there, the rose in hand.

He hardly had movie star looks. In fact, he was just…strange looking but there was something about the smile on his face that made her smile too. She had seen him in the store before; he always bought books about martial arts and health.

"Sakura-san," he said, snapping her out of whatever fog she had fallen into, "…My name is Rock Lee and I was wondering if you'd like to go out to dinner with me tomorrow night!" He said all this very quickly and kept his oddly round eyes on her the entire time.

Tomorrow night…Slowly, Sakura realized that the next day was Valentine's Day. A yellow rose…Valentine's Day…Perhaps Lee had made a mistake on the meaning of the color? No, she thought, he just wants to be friends; he barely knows me. She recognized him now that she knew his name. Lee was in a few of her classes and was an A+ student. He was not someone she had ever really looked at in a romantic way…But he was always very polite.

"Oh…I…" she stuttered, hardly knowing what to say at all, "Um…All right." The words came out of her mouth before she really had time to think. Ino had told her to look…She had not looked at all…but that did not mean she could not take her chances. Lee did not seem like a bad guy, though she had been wrong about Sasuke.

Lee's dark eyes lit up with joy. "Really?!" he blurted and immediately regained his composure, "I mean, great! So…I'll just meet you here when you get off work?" He did not seem desperate for a girlfriend—just eager…and he did not seem like a stalker either. He appeared to just be a regular guy taking a chance.

Sakura smiled. It hardly felt as though she had just been crying now. "Sure, I get off of work at five tomorrow," she replied. Her heart was racing. Could this be the end of her search that she had never actually started?

He gave her an affirmative nod. "That's fine," he said, "I've really admired you for a while, Sakura-san, but I could never get up the courage to ask you until now." He glanced quickly at his watch; he was going to be late for his karate class. Gai-Sensei would understand; he had been the one to inspire Lee to finally ask Sakura out, after all.

Her face warmed up with blush. Lee…had…what? At first, she was not sure if she had heard him correctly. Luckily, instead of trying to think of something to say, she took the rose; he seemed to be in a hurry. "Well…I'll see you tomorrow, then! At five," she said, trying to sound casual instead of ecstatic.

"Ok!" Lee exclaimed, flashing her a big smile, "I won't be late!"

He was not late. In fact, he was just on time; five o'clock sharp and waited for her to close up shop. Sakura had not expected that someone could be so wonderful and it did not take long for her to find out that the yellow rose had come from the advice of her own friend Ino. Apparently, red roses made men seem too desperate.

It did not take long for Lee and Sakura to "officially" start dating. Ino spread the news around the school and Sakura found she did not care who knew about it. After all, it was just nice to have someone who really cared, even if he was a bit eccentric and had a very…charismatic karate instructor, who he had introduced her to one day when they went to see a kung-fu movie together.

It has been two years since then. Sakura is in medical school now and Lee has a well paying job as a personal trainer. They are both health nuts and are going to get married soon…


End file.
